ckblum

Nope I asked the same thing once before. Exactly the same front ends just wider frames on the T100.

Booosted Supra

I cant wait for the action pics, this really doesn't seem like a bad kit. I would like it simply on the fact that I can relax my torsion bars with this and still not have to run drop brackets. Right now I run cranked bars which obviously ride harsh and BJ spacers just because I like not having the drop brackets sitting supper low to get hung up on the mud in. Any videos of this kit in action? Im not looking to really run fiber fenders either so how far will the wheels stick out compared to stock controls?

awareness

While the TC LT kit is definitely pricey given the travel gains, also consider that beyond the travel and ride height changes it's also replacing the t-bars with a coilover setup.

The cost of the coilovers themselves makes up a huge chunk of that particular setup as well.

ckblum

Actually that's the price of the torsion bar Gen 1 kit when I estimated it out. There is also the Gen 1 with uniballs or the Gen 2 which uses coil-overs. Gen 2 costs a bit more than the TB Gen 1, but the cost of coilovers verses the cost of shocks + TB's would probably end up being near the same. So I spend over $5000 for 3" of travel and I actually forgot to add in that I would need to buy new torsion bars before. I just can't justify ever spending that much for 3" of travel and still having TB's. I would rather do this kit, have money for my rear, money for an engine, and money for gas and insurance and repairs.

BlazeN8

I am that guy! The Rancho 3" LIft kit for the 1986-1995 IFS Toyota 4x4 is no longer being made and there are no replacement parts available. Downey did a lot of work modifying the kit at least 10 years back. Their work, in a sense, was one of the first long travel kits for this generation of yota. In developing my Blazeland LT kit I too played around with modifing the Rancho design. The first concern is finding a Rancho kit. I was able to obtain two since I started looking in 1998. If anything is damaged or missing your screwed; even worn out bushings present a major problem since they are specific to the Rancho arms. I didn't look with much effort, but if came across a kit I would pick it up if the price was right. If you find a Rancho kit or have one allready, it can be modified to make a nice coil over conversion LT kit capable of at least maxing out the T-100 CV axel shafts (limits of a about 12" of wheel travel) If you eliminate 4WD you could get a bit more. I built three versions of the Rancho Gen II LT kit. I got one design to cycle 13-14" w/out 4WD. I think this concept could be tweeked to get a bit more but it gets expensive. The factory Ball Joints and Tie Rod Ends get maxed out and you would need to be switch to heims joints and uniballs. I ditched the Rancho Gen II kit when I stuffed the front end into a ditch. I bent stuff that was prohibitively expensive to replace. So I went back the the Blazeland LT, and since I was running 4WD the extra couple of inches of travel the Rancho Gen II offered were not being used.

BlazeN8

Yep, the Rancho arms are weak. I broke one and cracked welds on another back in 2002 Baja 250 pre-run. I would NEVER try bolting a Blazeland UCA extension bracket onto a Rancho arm. I did it, but only to develop the geometry to build a whole new set of arms. If you were to do this, ditch the torsion bars and go coil over. The TBs on the Rancho design dictate that TBs move up in down with the UCA to some degree. Its better to utilize the stock cross shaft configuration if you want to run with TBs. The extra length Rancho gen II UCAs just put too much load on the TBs and related componants. With a coil over conversion the loads holding up the weight of the truck are transfered to the LCAs letting the UCAs concentrate on a different set of forces.

Booosted Supra

Wow alot of great info in this thread seriously. I'm really looking forward to this kit

mrddk92

I am interesyted in this kit also. How does it affect the turn radius? Or does it just stay the same? It would be nice to be able to park easily lol

AZkid

enought talk, lets see this badboy in action!

BlazeN8

I don't notice any negative turning radius effects from the Blazeland LT kit. I have noticed that the turning radius varies a bit with tire / rim combination though. A deep backspace say 4.5" and a 15x7 rim, like the SR-5 factory mag, w/ 33x12.5 tire has a much tighter turning radias than a 15x10 rim with a 3.5" backspace w/ the same size tire. Its not the LT kit that causes the difference its the offset distance from the centerline of the rim in relation to the verticle axis of the ball joints.
Another thing about the Blazeland LT is it retains the factory wheel stops located on the LCAs. These wheel stops will protect Inner and Outer Tie Rod Ends, Idler Arm, Pitman Arm, and Centerlink integrity during impacts to the steering mechanism. Think of them as bump stops for the steering. The stops are adjustable at the spindle too! You can set the stops to prevent stuff from rubbing. The plastic caps on the stops fall off or wear out quickley and that is why so many of these generation yotas make such annoying sounds as you make full cock turns. Is cock the correct term..... or is it chock? Anyway just some more food for though!

BlazeN8

Go to the Oceanic Dunes event this weekend, I'll be there! There is a sign up link somewhere on yotatech.

crazytoyota4x4

How much for the gen 2 kit? Looks alot better than the uca bolt on bracket.

iamsuperbleeder

lol, this thread almost has me worried about what I'm driving on... and trying to sell at the same time

BlazeN8

The gen II rancho kit was sort of a one off. It is a prototype that I still may develop but it would be expensive to re-produce the Rancho stuff and then build the custom UCAs. You would have to buy the Blazeland LCAs and an even longer set of custom Tie Rod adjusting sleeves. As a coil over conversion you would be required to spend another thousand on shocks and springs! All that expense for one more inch of travel, that you couldn't even use unless you were into 2WD wheeling. If your looking for that next level of performance you should just suck it up and fork over the cash for TC gen II or III, that way its not a prototype but a well tested proven system. If your still interested make me an offer offline outside the public forum.

BlazeN8

Hmmm, I like your creativity and ability to mix components around. Seriously thats a compliment. Look at my previous post to see what is included in the full Rancho kit.

The first problem I see is you are using a stock centerlink. The UCA pivot points are moved inward of the frame with the Rancho configuration so the pivot points on the centerlink need to be adjusted as well. You need to find a Rancho centerlink.

The second concern I see is that your shocks are way to small to attain full range. Those shocks probably only have 4-5" of travel. You would need at least 6" if not more.

The third concern that comes to mind is that you are not using Rancho's bracketry to lower the front diff. The Rancho arms increase droop about 3" over stock. Without dropping the front diff the CV axels will bind. Downey made some spicer slip yoke axel shafts (see attached photo) to use with the Rancho kit when you didn't drop the front diff. With the slip Yoke axels things will work fairly well. Since you have added an addition 2" of droop with the BJ spacers I think the axels would bind even with slip yokes. I noticed your doop stops are super tall and thick. This is defeating the purpose of the BJ spacers. Why extend the ball joint only to limit the travel with thick droop stops?

The fourth concern is (if you had a Rancho centerlink) finding longer tie rod adjusting sleeves. The Rancho kit came with a custom heavy duty longer tie rod adjusting sleeve. So does Blazeland, so did Downey, so does TC. These are expensive to machine and need to be turned on a lathe. Since the 14mm LH tap is a custom made cutting tool it will cost a couple hundred bucks.

And lastly, like we discussed earlier, the Rancho UCAs are week. If your not extending the length of the arms (like bolting on my Blazeland UCA extension bracket) you are fine for trails and mild desert stuff. Unless you are hammering through the whoops or jumping, the Rancho kit (in its complete form) is pretty good. If you have the Rancho / Downey kit (which you almost do) even better.

You have some valuable parts. The Rancho UCAs and pivot brackets are the main items, but without the Rancho centerlink its going to be difficult to get things working correctly. If you can find that, then I can help you with everything else.

ckblum

Hey N8, this is the guy I was talking about who had a highly modified Rancho system. I dunno if it's still you cause he lives in Texas, but he has a rad setup.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/79-95-toyota...936-rotbw.html

BlazeN8

Oh yea, thats not me. I made a rancho gen II kit w/ coil over conversion; see earlier post. I did check out the link to this guy in Texas. Great website and photos. Lots of good reading, I'll have to really read through it later, thanks for sending it. From a quick browse I see he is using the Ranch / Downey kit from about 6-8 years ago. I had this kit on my truck a few years back, just not with a ball joint spacer. It was a kit Downey claimed got 11" of travel. With the BJ spacer I could see it getting 12" of travel. Even with the slip yoke axel shafts (which he had) I would suspect some binding. Also, ball joints and tie rod ends may be over max limits with a BJ spacer? Also, the track width on this setup is not any wider than stock. Widening the track width is part of the formula to achieving long travel performance, but definitly not all of it. Awsome stuff, my complements to Texas!

ckblum

Yea I thought it was pretty rad and since it's stock width if he went 3-3.5" wider per side he could gain quite a bit more travel.

iamsuperbleeder

diff is dropped 1" curtisy of 4Crawler










definately not the drop attained with all of the components from the Rancho kit, but all that I was able to get from the kit was the UCA's and t-bars (which BTW I'm still using the stock t-bars, purly for ride quality, lol, and it rides quite nice even if the fron end does dip down under hard braking )


and yeah the shocks are limiting the travel a good bit

but even with the diff drop, I had to install taller droop bump-stops to keep the CV's from binging at full droop, cause the stockers were just a bit too short








but, it still works pretty decent

Booosted Supra

Wow i've never seen slip yoke cv's before, does downy still offer those, I didnt see them on the site and do they work without a LT kit or do you need to be running rancho specific?